Saturday was a much tighter game, where it took the Devils nearly six minutes to get their first shot, despite scoring the first goal. They were outshot 17-4 in the third period, but the Devils still put some pressure on in the offensive zone while guarding a one-goal lead.

When the Devils were racking up four or five goals per game in the first month of the season, wins came a little easier. They could get away with a few mistakes and make up for it on the scoreboard. During their four-game losing streak they had entering the Florida game -- and even in their Saturday win - mistakes were magnified in lower-scoring games.

"Sometimes it's not always going to be pretty," Devils coach John Hynes said. "If you look at the (3-2 OT loss to the Edmonton Oilers), we felt we played well enough to win the game and we didn't. (Saturday) it was a battle. Florida came in, played hard, they skated well, put us under pressure at times.

"When it wasn't going for us, we had good goaltending, blocked a lot of shots, defended very well. So I think you have to dig in and find a way to win a game. It's something we talked about, and we found a way to get it done."

The offense was back on Sunday in a game where the Devils needed it. Every bounce and deflection went against them as they fell behind, 4-1, in the first period. After getting back within two goals before the first intermission, they managed to score four straight in the second to take control.

Throughout the preseason and first month of the regular season, the Devils talked about establishing a team identity and playing with it on a nightly basis. The Devils lost four straight prior to the two weekend wins, and they faced their toughest test in maintaining that identity when they weren't getting the end results.

"We always know the way we want to play," defenseman Andy Greene said. "There's just certain areas of the game sometimes where teams force us into turnovers and we're a little stubborn with the puck. We know our identity as a team and what makes us successful. Sometimes executing it and sticking to it for a full game.

"Teams try to bottle you up, try to force you into mistakes. Being a young team, that's where you need to learn you can't be stubborn. You have to play a certain way every night, every shift. It may not pay off that shift, but it starts to pay off (eventually)."

Even after allowing the four early goals to the Blackhawks, the Devils stopped 26 of the 27 shots they faced the rest of the game.

"We're just trying to be tight defensively," Defenseman Damon Severson said. "I think we know that we trust our offense, we trust our guys up front and our offensive side of the game. We know Schneids is going to be great back there. We just try to play tight defensively and limit the grade-a scoring chances from the opposition. I think we've done a pretty good job of that here the last few games."